Ballymaloe

It’s been just over a month since I returned from my 12 week stint at Ballymaloe Cookery School. It was an amazing experience but it has proved more difficult than I thought to re-adjust to reality, now that I’m home. This is my 10 step […]

Ballymaloe Cookery School. It’s all over. Twelve weeks gone, in the blink of an eye. Week 12 at Ballymaloe began with my final morning cooking in the kitchen. I felt a little sad walking over from my room in the Coach House knowing it would […]

“Food is the new rock and roll!” – Darina Allen It’s getting down to business now. Just one week left, most of which will be taken up by exams. It’s hard to believe that time has vanished so quickly and the sheer amount I’ve learnt […]

“The biggest scam of the 21st Century – Low Fat” – Darina Allen Week 9 was an exciting week at Ballymaloe Cookery School: we had a wonderful Canapes demo from Rory and Darina (my mouth didn’t stop watering!) and our School Tour on Thursday, a […]

“Are you fed up of wild garlic yet?…..you will be….” – Emer After a relaxing weekend exploring Cork with Ali and my Mam, Week 8 began well for me in the kitchen. On Monday I was assigned dishes from Rachel’s Friday demo to prepare. My […]

“Don’t use boards……you can’t put them in the dishwasher…..” – Blathnaid Bergin It was such a good feeling walking back into the Cookery School on Monday morning, Mid-Term exams behind us and a weight off our shoulders – for the moment at least. I got […]

“We’re not going to let you make a total mess of what you’re doing, we’ll leave that to the final exam” – Rachel Allen The halfway point. Week 6 at Ballymaloe has just finished, bringing with it our first round of exams. A herb and salad […]

“We really are tapping into ancient wisdom” – Darina Allen Five weeks down, one week to our mid-term exams and just seven weeks until my time at Ballymaloe is over. Week 5 started off in an interesting fashion – I was clumsy, much more so […]

“All you have to do when you leave here is keep the faith” – Darina Allen Four weeks complete, a third of the way through this wonderful course. Time is flying, I can’t believe how much we’re learning each day. But the real world is […]

“There you are, there’s life in the old dog yet….” – Darina Allen Another week down and another week closer to our 6 week exams. The reality of the ‘Leaf Recognition Test’ is starting to hit home but more about that in another post! […]